The first is food; the second, wealth and articles of convenience; the third, sacrifices; the fourth, (the business of) the Minister of Works; the fifth, (that of) the Minister of Instruction; the sixth, (that of) the Minister of Crime; the seventh, the observances, to be paid to guests; the eighth, the army.'
iv. 'Fourth, of the five dividers of time[1].—The first is the year (or the planet Jupiter); the second, the moon; the third, the sun; the fourth, the stars and planets, and the zodiacal spaces; and the fifth, the calendaric calculations.'
v. 'Fifth, of royal perfection[2].—The sovereign, having established (in himself) the highest degree and pattern of excellence, concentrates in his own person the five (sources of) happiness, and proceeds to diffuse them, and give them to the multitudes of the people. Then they, on their part, embodying your perfection, will give it (back) to you, and secure the preservation of it. Among all the multitudes of the people there will be no unlawful confederacies, and among men (in office) there will be no bad and selfish combinations;—let the sovereign
- ↑ 'The five dividers of time' are with Medhurst 'the five arrangers,' and with Gaubil 'les cinq périodes.' This division of the Great Plan is substantially the same as Yâo's instructions to his astronomers.
- ↑ By 'royal perfection' we are to understand the sovereign when he is, or has made himself, all that he ought to be. 'Perfection' is 'the utmost point,' the extreme of excellence, realized in the person of the sovereign, guiding his administrative measures, and serving as an example and attractive influence to all below, both ministers and people.
regulators,' and Gaubil calls them 'les huit règles du gouvernement.' The phrase means the eight things to be attended to in government,—its objects and departments.
